


Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Moving On and Getting Over

by timeturners



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Moving On, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Canon, Post-Endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-07 10:38:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18871522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeturners/pseuds/timeturners
Summary: “Mantis, it’s fine, it’s fine,” says Rocket, hurried but hushed. He scrabbles to grab the orb from Mantis’s pale fingers. “Just don’t press the—”“Ooh, a button!” she says.-The Guardians of the Galaxy have escaped from jail, have had countless daddy issues, have gained new additions to the team, have survived Thanos’s snap. However, though they’re all physically intact, there’s so many things they all need to deal with. Who is Peter Quill still looking for? Who is this mysterious masked man following them around? Can they all even learn to be friends, let alone family?What’s the emotional toll these journeys have had on the characters? What new lessons do they need to learn? And where are Peter’s bath towels going? Drax better not be using them as toilet paper again.POST ENDGAME!





	1. Track 1: A Beautiful Morning

**GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3**

**Moving On and Getting Over**

 

* * *

 Track 1: A Beautiful Morning by the Rascals

* * *

 

“… okay, he’s in the shower.” Someone, so small you’d think it was a raccoon, scurries into a closet door, and shuts the door behind him. Once he’s inside the closet, there’s the sound of multiple people shuffling inside. “Budge up, will ya?”

Amongst the rustling, a mutter can be heard. “I do not understand the point of this.”

“Shut up and get ready, blue lady,” Rocket the raccoon snaps in the general direction of Nebula’s voice. It’s dark inside. Very dark. “Is everyone here?” hisses Rocket.

“I am Groot.” They all have to try not to trip over Groot’s vines. He’s been growing a lot lately.

“Thor present,” rumbles the Asgardian far above Rocket, a new addition to the team.

“I’m here!” pipes up Mantis.

“Here,” says Nebula.

“Where’s Drax?” Rocket begins to panic. Where could he have gone? “ _Where’s Drax_?” Please don’t be gone—

“Oh, I’m here,” says Drax nearby, and Rocket relaxes. From the sounds of it, Drax is shouldering around the broom closet unceremoniously. “I was too distracted looking the darkness.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” bristles Rocket.

“Shh!” yells Drax suddenly. “We have to be quiet!”

“Agreed!” Thor roars. The swish of an axe through the air causes more than a few yelps of shock. “Silence is necessary for this mission to be a success.”

“And I thought one idiot brute was enough,” murmurs Nebula from the far corner.

“Agreed,” Thor says once more. “There can only be one. Bug lady, please leave the team.”

“I am brute?” pipes up Mantis on Rocket’s right, sounding as if the idea delights her.

“I am Groot,” answers Groot.

Drax laughs heartily, shaking the entire closet. “Ha! You are a brute!”

Rocket feels his temper rising. “All of you, shut your mouths! Bug lady, you have the present?”

“I do!” Mantis says excitedly. There is a sound of more shuffling as she supposedly finds the present. After a few moments she brandishes a small orb from her pocket, which immediately illuminates the closet. Rocket can see the hard muscles of Drax knocking into tall Thor’s Stormbreaker, his shiny axe, and Mantis’s thrilled sparkling eyes in the midst of it all.

“You opened it?” hisses Rocket, beginning to panic once more.

“Ooh, yes,” said Mantis, and Rocket groans.

“Why did you trust her again?” mutters Nebula.

“That is not how presents work,” hisses Rocket.

“Oh,” said Mantis, her lit face disappointed.

Thor snickers and Drax begins to laugh so heartily he clutches his chest. “Mantis, you are  _stupid_!”

“I am Groot,” agrees Groot.

Mantis makes a frowny face.

Outside of the corridor there’s the sound of movement and Peter Quill’s voice. Everybody in the closet immediately freezes and shuts up. “Oi, guys,  _where’s_  my towel? If Drax used it as toilet paper again, I swear to God I’ll—” He pauses. “Guys? Where are you?”

Drax gasps. “They are not towels. They are large fluffy toilet paper!”

“Shh,” Thor hisses loudly.

“Guys?” Peter’s voice comes. There’s the sound of his guns switching on.

“Mantis, it’s fine, it’s fine,” says Rocket, hurried but hushed. He scrabbles to grab the orb from Mantis’s pale fingers. “Just don’t press the—”

“Ooh, a button!” she says, and Rocket only has one second to wince before the bright yellow explosion engulfs his line of vision and everything turns black.

A few seconds pass before Rocket regains consciousness. He groans, brushing the dust off his fur and his clothes. Through blurry vision he sees Groot’s branch arms splayed across Thor and Drax on the floor of the spaceship. Nebula and Mantis are groaning as they begin to stand up, beside them the gift of the glowing orb undamaged. The splintered pieces that are the remains of the closet door are scattered everywhere. Rest in peace Peter’s broom closet.

Rocket feels someone yank him up by his sleeve. It’s Peter, his dumb face gawking down at Rocket. There’s dust everywhere. “What the hell’s going on?”

Nebula picks up the glowing orb and rushes to Peter’s feet, kneeling down. Her one good hand offers up the orb. “Happy birthday,” she says seriously.

Peter gingerly picks it up. “What … what the hell is this?”

“It’s a reactor,” coughs Rocket. “You know, for your guns. You’ve been saying you needed some, so … yeah…” He trails off.

“Oh,” says Peter, weighing the orb in his hand.

Rocket snarls and starts to walk away. “He doesn’t like it.”

“Hey, man, I didn’t say that—”

Thor uses this moment to pull Peter into a huge hug, which Peter does not look too pleased about. “Ah, lord of stars! I wish the happiest of birthdays for you, second in command.”

“I am Groot,” cheers Groot.

Peter laughs hesitantly as he tries to get out of Thor’s grasp. “I’m  _not_ second in command…”

“Ah, what a joyous birthday!” interrupts Thor to Groot. “I love mortal celebrations, don’t you, Tree?”

“Joyous? It’s a freakin’  _terrible_ birthday,” snaps Rocket.

Peter frowns. “Rocket—”

“We made cake,” suggests Nebula.

Drax wipes his mouth. “Oh. Was that for Quill?”

“Surprise!” says Mantis, popping up from behind some debris. When everybody stares at her, she asks in a whisper, “Ooh, was I too early?”

Rocket punches the wall.

 

* * *

 

After Peter makes them clean up and collects the pieces of the metal closet door (maybe they can salvage Peter’s broom closet?) they end up warming up something Peter calls ‘fries’, which honestly taste awful, but, hey. It’s his birthday. The dodgy microwave rattles and beeps as a second round of fries are prepared.

“Another!” says Thor, chucking the empty bowl of fries on the floor with a soft  _oomph_.

“Dude, don’t — don’t throw the bowls on the floor,” says Peter, frowning. He’s rummaging through a drawer. “But, yeah, as I was saying, how’d you even know it was my birthday?”

Mantis giggles. She says, “I read your mind,” which is so funny to Drax that he roars with laughter and shakes the dining table.

“What?” says Peter suddenly, accidently knocking his head into the microwave.

“Idiot,” Rocket grumbles into his bowl.

Peter snorts. “Yeah? I’m an idiot? Says the loser who punched a wall.”

Peter’s found what he needs and he’s walking over to the little dining table. He sits in one of the several mismatched seats, beside Rocket. They don’t make eye contact. It’s a bit endearing, really, how all of the Guardians are squashed together in such a small space, but Rocket will never admit it. Thor and Drax have an arm wrestle while Nebula looks on, unimpressed. Groot is stuffing himself with fries. Rocket feels at rest, at home.

“You’re a loser,” snaps Rocket.

“ _You’re_ a loser,” Peter snaps back. “Give me your hand.  _Give_ me your hand, or I’ll start calling it a paw.”

Rocket relents. Peter wraps Rocket’s tender, furry hand in some spacey gauze that feels cool and sticky. Rocket

“And now, you say thank you,” says Peter condescendingly.

Rocket glares. “Well,  _you_  didn’t say thank you before.”

He scoffs. “What? When?”

“The stupid orb.” Rocket points to the glowing yellow reactor in Peter’s pocket.

Peter stumbles with his words for a bit. “Wha— what? Of course, I — of course, I said — okay fine, I forgot to say thank you. Are you really going to hold this against me?”

“Ungrateful ass,” mutters Rocket.

“Hey!” says Peter, affronted. “ _You’re_ ungrateful!”

“I bet you don’t even  _like_ the present that I got you!” shouts Rocket, jumping up from his seat.

“I never said that!” Peter, too, leaps from his seat.

At this point everybody is staring at them. Nebula and Mantis, who had also begun to engage in an arm wrestle (though Nebula is beating her  _hard_ , Mantis seems delighted), exchange a glance. Even Drax judges them, and if Drax is judging you, then that says something.

“ _Men_ , calm down,” says Thor loftily.

“The god man is right,” says Drax.

“I bet you think I stole it!” yells Rocket.

“I didn’t even — I didn’t even —” Peter splutters. “Fine! Take it back, you stupid animal thief idiot.” He fumbles with the orb and then chucks it into Rocket’s chest.

“Your vocabulary’s enormous, you’re a real wordsmith, aren’tcha Quill?” says Rocket nastily. He rips off the gauze. Ouch. He chucks it back at Peter, which is far lamer than it should’ve been. “I don’t need your stupid help!”

“I shouldn’t have even tried!” yells Peter.

Rocket laughs. “Yeah! You shouldn’t have!”

“Okay, everybody, let us relax,” says Thor, standing up. His eyes are stormy. “Discord amongst the team is silly.”

Peter snorts and is probably just about to snap at Thor, but then the ship’s screens begin to flash blue. A message reads, ‘REACHING LOCATION IN 5 MINUTES.’

“What’s this about?” asks Nebula.

“Yes, why wasn’t I, the leader, informed of this?” asks Thor, scratching his head with Stormbreaker.

“First of all, you’re  _not_ the leader,” grumbles Peter, rushing towards the ship’s main control centre. “Second of all, we’re going to a planet called Spartax. There’s, uh, reports of criminal activity and stuff.”

“What are we, the police?” asks Rocket, scrambling over to see what’s up. “When have we ever actively found criminals?”

“Since we became the Guardians of the Galaxy, all right?” says Peter, stabbing at buttons.

“Ooh, is that our name now?” Mantis asks. “I thought Thor said it was the ‘Asgardians of the Galaxy’.”

“ _No_ ,” says Peter, drawing out the syllable as he pulls back a driving stick hard, “‘cause that’s a stupid name.”

“I think it’s a very good name,” says Drax seriously.

Groot has lumbered over to the main controls as well. “I am Groot.”

“See, Groot knows what’s up,” says Peter, giving Groot’s long arm a pat. “Ow. Are you growing thorns?”

“Trees don’t grow thorns, Einstein.”

“Stop picking fights, rabbit,” scolds Thor, meaty hand ruffling Rocket’s head.

“Who is Einstein?” asks Drax.

“Stop ordering around my teammates,” orders Peter, frowning. “And yeah! Stop picking fights,  _rabbit_.”

Rocket snarls but says nothing.

“Okay, we’re set to land any minute now,” says Peter, his fingers finally leaving the control panel. “Get your gear ready, guys. Let’s go fight some criminals.”

“Finally,” drawls Nebula, her batons already spinning in her hands, “some real fun.”

 

* * *

 

The planet Spartax is desolate everywhere the eye can see. The dry, sandy land stretches far and wide in every direction, only interrupted by the odd remains of a civilisation that has long been destroyed. Stray smashed in windows and broken steel houses are all that remain in the dustiness of Spartax.

“Real charmer of a planet,” says Rocket as the Guardians land on the hard earth.

“Quill, what kind of criminals are we expecting?” asks Thor. “Violent murders? Planet-wide riots? Tax evasion?”

“Ooh, I hope it’s the last one, that sounds dangerous!” says Mantis, and Nebula rolls her eyes.

“Quill?” she prompts. “What kind of criminals are we expecting?  _Hey_ , Quill.”

Peter had been seemingly off in a daydream, his eyes elsewhere. Once Nebula prods him with one of her batons and he notices the entire team staring at him he says, “Oh! Oh, it’s, er, the first one. Lots of murderers here.”

“No tax evaders, bug lady,” says Thor, sounding disappointed. “The cruellest of the galaxy will remain unpunished for yet another day.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy begin to walk. Rocket can’t see anything important in any other direction. Just dust and rubble.

“I am Groot,” drawls Groot.

“Yeah, I’m with Groot on this one,” Rocket says. “What kind of murders are happening  _here_? There’s nobody to murder!”

Drax scoffs loudly. “Duh, of course there’s no one here! It’s because they’re all dead, right, Quill?”

Peter’s eyes, yet again, are elsewhere. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, duh. Stupid Rocket.” He prods Rocket with a gun playfully, but Rocket isn’t having it.

He looks pointedly in the other direction, at Thor, his beard and long hair braided up and ready for battle. Groot, who has been growing larger and larger lately, has his sharp tree fingers bared and ready for a surprise attack. Nebula’s shiny weapons are distinct in the bland landscape, and even Mantis has a knife or too strapped to her belt. Rocket’s gun, disproportionately large for his body, keeps knocking into his right leg. In fact, the only one who isn’t outfitted for battle is…

“You’re not even wearing your gear,” says Rocket slowly, staring up at Peter, who freezes. “Oi, Quill, you’re not wearing gear! What the hell?”

Nebula immediately pushes Mantis and Drax behind her and takes a fighting stance, weapons and teeth bared. “Everyone, back up! It’s an impersonator.”

Peter scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Okay, you’re right that I’m not wearing gear, but I’m not an  _impersonator_. You’ve been with me the entire time.”

“That’s true,” says Drax. “Nobody riles up Rocket like Quill.”

Everybody hums in agreement.

“Hey!” both Rocket and Peter protest.

“And nobody gets riled up by Thor like Quill,” says Nebula, putting her weapons back in her pocket.

Everybody hums in agreement.

“Hey!” only Peter says this time, while Thor gives a hearty laugh.

“Why aren’t you in gear?” snaps Rocket, glaring up at Peter. “Why’ve you brought up to this stupid planet?”

“To — to find murderers! Duh!” splutters Peter.

“I am Groot,” says Groot bitterly.

“I think it’s okay that he’s lying,” says Drax sagely. “It’s his birthday. He gets a birthday lie.”

“I’m not lying!” Peter says as Rocket says, “That’s stupid! You’re stupid!”

“Drax is not stupid,” Mantis says wisely. “He is very clever.”

“Look!” Rocket says wildly. “We’re here on some wild goose chase for nothing! There’s no murderers here, are there?”

Peter huffs. “Fine. There aren’t.”

“Or tax evaders?” asks Mantis hopefully.

Peter shakes his head, and Mantis’s antennae droop.

“Then why’d you bring us here?” snarls Nebula.

Suddenly Rocket realises. “It’s ‘cause of  _her_ , isn’t it?” He leaps up at Peter, who scrambles back. Rocket grabs onto Peter’s shirt and hangs onto his front, glaring him straight in the face. “What, you can’t stand the rest of us that you need to find  _her_? She obviously doesn’t want to be found. How’d you even know she was here, you stalker?”

“Ha ha, stalker!” says Drax, pointing at Peter.

“Do you know what they’re talking about, Tree?” wonders Thor.

“I am Groot.” Groot shrugs.

“It’s Gamora!” yells Rocket, bounding off of Peter and back onto the hard earth. “He’s here to find Gamora again!”

Everybody but Thor groans. “I am Groot,” says Groot disparagingly.

“Who’s Gamora?” Thor whispers loudly to Mantis.

“The green one,” Mantis whispers loudly back.

Thor joins in on the groaning late. “Not  _again_ ,” says Thor, shaking his head. “Quill, you have to stop your pining. You know, I used to pine over this girl—”

Peter growls. “Okay, I’m really not going to have this conversation with you right now—”

“She really was quite lovely, but I had to learn to get over it—”

“ _Please_ stop—”

“And here I thought we were going to  _fight_ some people,” complains Nebula over their chatter.

“Wish granted,” says a voice from behind them.

The Guardians of the Galaxy have never moved so fast. All seven of them whip around and bare their weapons, except Peter, who after a moment of deliberation, bares his fists instead. They can only see the foggy dust that clouds the atmosphere of the planet.

“Who’s there?” both Peter and Thor say at the same time.

Peter sighs and turns to Thor. “Look, dude, that’s  _my_  line—”

“Who’s there?” yells Nebula.

“God, do you people ever stop arguing?” says the voice again, and after a magical  _whoosh_ soundsand a dark light flashes, the fog clears.

Peter is coughing. “Hey, dude, show your ugly face!”

The voice laughs, and they can finally see who they’re speaking to. It’s a tall but human-sized man with a strange, metallic mask covering his face. It betrays no facial features at all, not even a space for the mouth. He wears a long, dark coat and has shiny steel gloves, giving the impression of an android. In one hand he has a staff that morphs into a gun. In the other he holds a small black rectangle like a mirror that they can’t really make out. In short, he looks kind of terrifying.

“That’s a bit of a self-sabotaging comment, don’t you think?” says the dude.

“Look, we’re not smart enough to know what that means,” retorts Peter. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

“I want Quill,” the man says.

“Oh, great,” complains Peter.

“Hey, hey,” Rocket snickers, “that’s something Gamora’s never said.”

Drax roars with laughter. “Did you hear that? He says Gamora’s never said ‘I want Quill.’ HA!”

Peter bristles.

“You never told us your name, metal man,” says Mantis excitedly.

“My name …” the dude says dramatically, his gun which now turns into a knife, “is J’son.”

There is a pause.

“Oh, like Jason,” says Drax.

“A worthy name, like Thor,” Thor says appreciatively, grinning at the rest of the Guardians.

“Ooh, like Jason, but  _French_ ,” says Mantis.

“You’ve never even been to France,” Peter reminds her.

“I know, but you have, and I can read your mind,” Mantis says, smiling completely innocently.

“Wha—? We  _really_ need to have a conversation about the whole mind reading thing after this,” Peter tells her.

“Hello?” says J’son. They can’t see his expression, but Rocket assumes he looks a bit offended at being ignored. “No! My name is not  _Jason_. J’son. J-apostrophe-S-O-N.”

“That’s a stupid name,” says Rocket.

“I am Groot,” laughs Groot.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, let’s not gang up on the weird knife guy,” says Peter.

“Silence, Quill,” says Thor dramatically. “My father — the god Odin — always told me that attacking your opponents verbally is just as important as physical attacks.”

“Y-You can’t just  _silence_  me, the team leader,” retorts Peter.

“Daily vote!” calls out Thor and the rest of the Guardians quickly perk up. “Those who vote for me as daily team leader, say aye!” A chorus of ‘aye’s. “And those for little Quill over here, say aye.”

“Aye,” only Peter says, then glares at Rocket. Rocket tries to flip him the bird. “Oi, you changed your vote since last time!”

“The making-us-come-here-for-Gamora thing hurt your election campaign,” says Thor sagely.

“All of you!” booms J’son suddenly, and their attention snaps back to him. “Look, can all of you just shut up, so I can get on with killing you?”

Nebula says, “I agree,” and her knife goes flying.

J’son dodges it and the gun in his hand begins firing bullets at record speed. Rocket and Peter have to leap in separate directions to avoid the gunfire. Nebula rips away another knife from her belt and tosses it at J’son, who, after his gun transforms into a throwing dagger, catches Nebula’s and then chucks both knives in her direction. Nebula ducks and they barely miss her.

Mantis tries running with Nebula, but Nebula snaps, “No! Stay back!”

This provides enough distraction for J’son to leap towards them and sweep them both off their feet with his newly-transformed staff. And then Drax is barrelling at top speed towards J’son. He looks scared for a moment when he sees Drax’s speeding figure, but then Rocket notices the glowing black mirror in J’son’s hand and—

The blast of light like purple flame explodes and Drax is knocked back. He lands on the earth,  _hard_.

“What the hell is that?” yells Peter.

“Where the  _hell_ is Thor when you need him?” shouts Rocket.

He tosses one of his guns to Peter. They both grimly nod at one another and dart from their hiding place. They open fire on J’son. The rectangle in his hand is glowing, and every bullet that almost reaches J’son disappears in black flame.

“Your guns suck,” says Peter, discarding the empty gun.

“No, you just suck at aiming,” Rocket says, tossing another gun to Peter.

“Men and scary women!” bellows Thor from the right. “We have company!”

Rocket whips his head around to see the Stormbreaker crackling with electricity, and the dusty wind beginning to swirl violently. From the skies lands an assortment of monstrous beings. An alien the same species as Yondu rides the back of a huge, reptilian beast that swings her head violently. A winged humanoid woman zooms down to Spartax, her feathers shining bright in the dusty air. A red, troll-like man lands beside a Skrull, machine guns opening fire as soon as his feet touch the ground.

“The Slaughter Lords,” says J’son happily, hands in the air. “We will end your puny lives, and I will have Peter Quill and—”

Nebula’s electroshock baton barely misses his masked face, and he makes a metallic growl as he sends two blasts of light at her, one from a blaster and the other from the mysterious black mirror.

Rocket has barely any time to check if Nebula dodged them, because Red Troll is hurtling towards him and Peter, Skrull Man not too far behind. Rocket begins to blast shots from his laser cannon straight at the two aliens, making them falter on their way towards them.

“Why didn’t you give me that one?” yells Peter.

“Shut up,” snarls Rocket.

Red Troll growls and jumps into the air, his blood red talons slashing at full speed. Peter sidesteps him, and Red Troll is sent rolling far away, but then Peter is knocked away by Skrull Man’s fist. Peter and Skrull Man begin to wrestle over the huge machine guns and — oh, shit, there’s two Peters on the floor, fighting over which machine gun to use. Stupid Skrulls and their shapeshifting abilities.

“I’m the real one!” one of them yells at Rocket.

“No, dude,  _I_ am!” yells the other.

Rocket hesitates.

“You freakin’ idiot!” shouts the first one. “God, Rocket, you’re so stupid—”

And Rocket blasts the other in the head. Skrull Man transforms back into himself, but there’s a hole in his chest and he lays limp. Dead.

Peter coughs and gets up. “How did you—”

“Nobody else calls me an idiot,” Rocket says. “They all know how smart I am.”

Peter rolls his eyes, but then Red Troll is coming at them once again. “Filthy animal!” he roars. Rocket sends more and more shots at Red Troll, who, though he flinches and shrieks, is relentless. Spittle flying everywhere, he roars once more and hurtles towards Rocket.

“Oh, shit,” says Rocket.

Peter takes this opportunity to leap onto Red Troll’s back unceremoniously, causing him to stumble. “Lord — of — the — rings — sucks!” shouts Peter, struggling to hold onto the beast’s back. Rocket, regretfully, hurls his laser cannon up at Peter, who catches it expertly and aims it directly at Red Troll’s head and shoots.

Red Troll’s body falls to the floor, dead.

Peter brushes himself off. “Good teamwork, Rocket.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Peter huffs loudly. “God, do you always have to be so mean?”

“ _I’m_ mean—?”

The other Guardians are not faring as well. The dusty sky has cleared and it’s now full of colourful blasts of light from each side. Groot and Drax are fending off Not Yondu and his Big Lizard with difficulty. Anytime Drax tries to attack the reptilian monster, Not Yondu’s blaster gun shoots him away. And Groot’s sneak attacks fail, because Big Lizard just snaps off Groot’s arms with its sharp teeth.

Nebula and Mantis, though they aren’t fighting in tandem, are both getting defeated by the mysterious dark energy of J’son’s mirror. Mantis can’t get close enough to put him to sleep, and Nebula can’t get close enough to fight him hand-to-hand.

Winged Lady and Thor are having an aerial battle, her wings beating the air harshly as she craftily dodges lightning strikes but then—

Peter shoots her out of the sky with Rocket’s gun. “Ha! Stupid bird lady.”

Thor roars in appreciation and his lightning sends Winged Lady falling to the ground. After that, the rest of the Slaughter Lords are no match for Thor. Big Lizard has an axe-sized hole in its chest and Not Yondu is fried head to toe when Thor is done with them.

“Awesome!” says Drax, pumping his enormous fist in the air.

“It’s not that awesome,” mutters Peter.

And then it’s just the Guardians and J’son once more. They all stand in formation, ready to attack.

“We’ve bested you, Jason,” Thor says stormily. “Surrender now.”

J’son spits on the floor. “You think you’ve won? Just you wait.” And then before Thor can hurl his axe at J’son, the masked man raises his fist with that black mirror and—

The battleground floods with that odd light. Rocket is sent flying back.  _Oomph_. What the…

To his utter horror, the bullet hole in Skrull Man’s head has disappeared. Same with Red Troll, who begins to stand up once more. Not Yondu clambers back onto Big Lizard and Winged Lady takes flight once more. The Slaughter Lords are back to life.

“Necromancy,” snarls Thor. “The evillest art.”

“All of you are exhausted,” says J’son, laughing. “Look, my Slaughter Lords can never die. You may as well surrender Peter Quill right now.”

“Never,” says Nebula, panting.

“Yeah, never!” roars Drax.

“Our Peter!” says Mantis encouragingly.

“Fine,” J’son says. “Slaughter Lords, attack!”

And they’re back at it once more. This time, J’son fights Thor himself, the jets of black light being blocked by Stormbreaker. Lightning never reaches J’son, who calls up a shield of black energy, then tosses a knife that digs itself into Thor’s shoulder. Seemingly with his mind, J’son transforms the knife stuck in Thor’s shoulder, and Thor howls with pain as the knife grows and elongates into a metal staff.

Big Lizard’s tail slams Rocket away before he can contribute to the fight and he lands gracelessly on the hard earth. Shit. That hurt.

Peter can’t do anything without his weapons, and he and Mantis are trying to run away from Winged Lady’s razor-sharp feathers hurtling at them.

Red Troll, Skrull Man and Drax begin to wrestle. Skrull Man turns into Red Troll, and suddenly there’s two red beasts who fling Drax far, far away.

Not Yondu has leapt from Big Lizard’s back and blasts Nebula away so violently that she doesn’t get back up afterwards.

God damn it. They’re losing. They’ve lost. Even Thor is struggling to hold his own. He’s ripped out the long staff from his flesh, but he clutches at his shoulder as he’s battling with J’son, who sends a particularly powerful blast at Thor. The Asgardian god stumbles back — that can’t be the end of him, right? — but lightning begins to crackle once more—

And then suddenly there’s no need for it. A black figure bursts into existence from the shadows, leaping and bounding through the battlefield. A well-aimed knife hits Wing Lady’s back and she goes down straight into Big Lizard’s face. Not Yondu has no idea what happens when he gets electrocuted and Red Troll and Skrull Man’s heads are slammed together, knocking them out.

And J’son only notices that the black mirror in his hand is gone when the black figure is speeding away, in Peter’s direction.

“Here!” the figure calls out harshly, pulling down her hood. She tosses the black mirror to him.

“Gamora?” says Peter incredulously, not reaching out to catch for it. Rocket, despite the aching in his back, dives for it and the black glass just lands in his injured hand. Ow.

J’son is livid. “ _That_ is not something simple animals can handle.”

“Good thing I ain’t a simple animal,” wheezes Rocket, scrambling to his feet and darting out of the way of J’son’s knife, which turns into a razor-sharp boomerang.

“Gamora, what are you doing here?” gasps Peter.

“Shut up,” says Gamora, dashing to J’son and trying to kill him.

“Rocket, here!” calls Drax.

Rocket tosses the mirror and Drax catches it in his meaty fist. He begins to run as fast as he can away from J’son’s wrath.

“Drax, to me!” Nebula yells.

“Blue lady, my hand is free!” bellows Thor.

“I am Groot!” shrieks Groot.

It’s a precarious game of pass the parcel. Whoever isn’t in possession of that mysterious black mirror is desperately trying to bring down J’son, but he’s far too quick, and, despite only having one weapon, it is crazy versatile and transforms into anything. At one point, it’s an automatic missile launcher and they all have to dive out of the way not to be completely obliterated.

“I really need that weapon,” Rocket tells Nebula, who rolls her eyes.

Rocket, Peter, and Gamora all leap onto J’son at the same time, who, after letting his missile launcher go, is weapon-less. “Finally,” snarls Peter.

J’son, in a last-ditch attempt, tosses Rocket through the sky at Thor’s face. This catches Thor by surprise, who drops the black mirror from his fingertips. It begins to fall to the earth rapidly.

Rocket’s eyes are wildly searching the ground.

“Mantis, catch it!” shrieks Rocket as he hurtles back to the earth as well.

“Ooh, me, me, my turn!” coos Mantis, darting towards the mirror. Just as Rocket thinks she misses it, Mantis dives and her fingertips manage to  _just_ scrape the black mirror. It’s safe. The magical mysterious object does not explode, and they are safe once more.

All the Guardians seem to sigh in relief. J’son is struggling to escape Peter and Gamora’s hold on him and Rocket waddles over to the masked idiot, smugness all over the raccoon’s face.

Suddenly Mantis gasps, and Rocket’s head whips around suddenly “Guys! This one has a button too!” she says cheerfully.

Dread fills Rocket instantly. “Mantis, no, not again—”

J’son roars in anger.

And then with a click, everything goes black.


	2. Track 2: Let's Stay Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finally pulls away, her smile wide and her eyes glistening.
> 
> “You’re back, Peter,” she says breathlessly.

* * *

  **Track 2: Let’s Stay Together by Al Green**

* * *

 

The first thing Peter sees when his eyes open is Gamora attempting to stab the  _fuck_ out of the Red Troll, who is lying right next to Peter. Peter lets out a yell and instinctively rolls into the side, bumping into something small.

“Ow!” snaps Rocket’s muffled voice.

Peter scrambles to get to his feet, and all the while his eyes are trained directly on Gamora. She’s leaping left and right, her hood drawn back to reveal her vicious green face. God, she is  _so_ beautiful.

“Whore!” bellows the Red Troll, hurling Gamora away. The Red Troll then stomps towards where Peter is. He immediately panics – Jesus, that thing is big – and pushes at his rough, red back. He roars in response and Peter staggers back, into Rocket once more.

“You  _really_ have to stop that!” snaps Rocket, who bounds towards a gun discarded on the floor – the floor, the floor, it’s clean, polished … where the hell are they?

Peter whips his head around – they’re in some sort of refined courtyard with alien pot plants and statues of handsome men all around (how the  _hell_ did they get there?) – and lets out a yell as the Red Troll comes barrelling towards him.

“I really wish I’d brought my gear,” sighs Peter.

And then Rocket’s blaster gun is going off beside Peter’s head. Peter ducks and Rocket’s gunfire is raining on a staggering Red Troll. This provides enough distraction for Peter to charge at the thing headfirst and – fuck. His head. Ow.

But he’s heavy enough for the Red Troll to lumber backwards and into Gamora’s outstretched knife. She’s triumphant, and for good measure pulls out another knife and stabs it once more into Red Troll’s back.

The Red Troll teeters for a bit and then finally falls to floor, dead.

“Is that it?” says Rocket smugly, just as a pitch-black boomerang smacks him in the head and he goes down.

“Rocket!” yelps Peter, running over but blast of black light stops him midway. It’s fucking J’son  _again_ , his boomerang in one hand morphing into a gun. The black mirror in his hand glints in the sunlight – ah, they’re outside. Peter takes a split second to glance around – they’re in a large, open space with not just pot plants, but well-trimmed bushes and trees.

He’d be impressed, but what’s more impressive is how quickly Gamora jumps into the air over Red Troll’s body, sword pointed straight at J’son. J’son lazily stretches out his cloaked arm and blasts her out of the air with his magical mirror.

Peter spies a blaster gun on the marble floor and snatches it up.

“Hey, Snow White’s evil stepmother!” he yells at J’son. “How ‘bout you hand over that magic mirror of yours? You’re outnumbered, dude, all the Guardians versus you.”

He has to roll out his way of magical jet of black light, as J’son blabbers on. “Look around, idiot boy! There’s nobody here except your pet and your girlfriend.”

That was true. Where was Groot, or Drax? Where was Nebula, or the girl with antennas? Or Thor, Peter supposes, but honestly Peter’s pretty glad about that particular absence.

“Not his pet!” yells Rocket, scrambling to stand.

“Not his girlfriend,” snarls Gamora, already back on her feet.

“Not yet,” mutters Peter.

Gamora looks at him. “I  _heard_ that, imbecile. We are  _not_ dating.”

“Not  _yet_ ,” says Peter, as smooth as he can.

Rocket gags. “Get a room, you two.”

Gamora splutters, and her sword arm falters. “There will be no  _room-getting_!”

Peter stares at her longingly. “Look, Gamora—”

J’son – though Peter can’t see his face – seems to shake with anger. “You people,” he grits out, the mirror in his hand beginning to pulsate with purple light, “talk too much. Puny so-called ‘Guardians.’  _Prepare to d_ —”

Something small flies through the sky and hits J’son’s neck. His eyes are wide as the electric shock goes off and he falls to the floor.

Rocket barks with laughter. “Take that, Jason! That’ll teach you not to—”

But another identical device attaches itself to Rocket’s neck with a zap, and he convulses with the electric shock for a second before collapsing.

Gamora and Peter exchange a fearful glance for only a second before Gamora’s neck is hit too, and she suffers the same fate.

“Hey, whoever’s out there, show your  _face_!” bellows Peter, suddenly afraid. His entire team is down. He only has one of Rocket’s stupid blasters in his hands, and, to be honest, he doesn’t know how to use it. “Whoever’s out there,  _come out and show yourself_!”

But no electrical device attaches itself to his neck, and he never falls to the floor.

For from the skies phases a team of blue armour-clad soldiers. Peter looks up and sees a spaceship shimmer into existence, sending more and more troops downward. They’re approaching him slowly.

This surprises him so much that he falls onto his ass. One of them laughs airily, the leader of the group, and he keeps walking towards Peter, who scrambles to load the gun, to find where the stupid trigger is when—

The knight grabs Peter’s hand and pulls him up to his feet so they’re face to face. The knight pulls down his visor and — oh, that’s not a dude. It’s a girl, with a pretty round face and curly brown hair that falls into place after she tosses her helmet to the floor.

She looks so, so happy, and Peter only realises what’s happening a moment too late. She grabs his face with one hand and her other is curled around his shoulder and suddenly her lips are on his and — oh my God. Peter’s being  _kissed_. He hasn’t been kissed in so long.

But this isn’t Gamora. This isn’t — this isn’t what he wants. Who even is this?

The girl finally pulls away, her smile wide and her eyes glistening.

“You’re back, Peter,” she says breathlessly.

* * *

 

The first thing Nebula sees when she wakes up is herself talking to Mantis, that idiot bug girl. Mantis is getting up slowly. Clearly, she’d just woken up.

What? What is happening? How is Nebula here, lying on the floor, blinking her blurry vision away, but also over  _there_ talking to Mantis? The answer comes to her just as quickly as her baton flies across the room to smack fake Nebula across the head.

Mantis lets out a little gasp — stupid Mantis — and even bigger one once the Skrull reverts back to its ugly green form.

“Don’t worry,” Nebula allows, stalking her way over to Mantis and picking her baton back up. “That was a fake one.”

“Ooh, you’re very cool,” says Mantis earnestly. “Do you know where we are?”

Nebula glances around. They’re in a small part of an enormous, science-y building with glowing walls and state-of-the-art infrastructure. She knows exactly where it is, because she’s been here before.

“It’s a prison,” says Nebula flatly, beginning to walk down a flight of neon blue stairs. Hopefully guards don’t catch them … she can hear noise coming from this direction, though, which is a good sign that they can find an exit quickly and get out of here.

“Ooh, we’re in prison!” says Mantis, tagging along. “What did we do?”

“We didn’t  _do_ anything,” says Nebula, poking her head around a corner to make sure there are no gun-wielding guards around. “Actually,” she pauses. “You  _did_ do something, I think. When you clicked that magical artefact of J’son’s — it triggered something. Sent us here. Don’t do that again, that was very stupid.”

They’re walking through a corridor of closed doors, locked with high-tech systems. Ugh. Hopefully this is not the high-security section of the prison, because it’ll be  _loaded_ with guards.

Mantis stops and cocks her head to the side. “I am stupid?”

Nebula snaps, “Keep walking.” She stiffens up, hearing voices, and she gestures Mantis to hide with her in an alcove.

A group of guards walk past, chatting, but they don’t notice them. They continue to sneak away once the coast is clear.

“I have never been called stupid before,” says Mantis airily.

“That is surprising,” says Nebula honestly.

They have exited the corridors lined with prison cells. Now they’re in a large, open space with a high ceiling — probably a lunch hall or something, seeing as though there are tables and chairs everywhere — and Nebula  _really_ wants to get across this room as fast as possible. Otherwise they’ll be spotted.

“I have decided. You are stupid,” says Mantis, grinning.

Nebula begins to get angry. “What? Hurry up.”

“Ha ha, how do you feel now?” says Mantis, her tongue poking out. “You are stupid.”

“I am not — I am not stupid!” snaps Nebula. “ _You_ are.”

“No, you are,” giggles Mantis, knocking into a chair.

“No,” says a voice from above. “You both are.”

Nebula’s head jerks up immediately but it’s not fast enough to dodge the blue razor-sharp feather that imbeds itself into a metallic part of her head.

Nebula hisses in pain but it’s only her robotic parts, so it’s fine. She rolls out of the way to avoid another one of the Winged Lady’s attacks. The Winged Lady is soaring high above near the windows, her smirk evident on her pale face. Her blonde hair curls in the air as she swoops back and forth, shooting the feathers from the seemingly endless supply in her wings.

“She must’ve come with us too!” shouts Nebula, ducking from another feather.

Mantis jumps out of the way of a feather, but shrieks when one stabs her forearm.

Nebula flares up with fury, and, instead of dodging, hides behind one of the cafeteria chairs. This gives her ample time to find a baton and fling it at Winged Lady. It misses her by inches — Nebula swears colourfully — and lands with a thud at the other end of the room. That goes one of two batons.

The sound of arrow-like feathers  _swooshing_ through the air and Mantis’s shriek echoes in Nebula’s ears. There’s the sound of someone sliding, and the noise of the feathers slamming into a table.

“Come out, come out,” comes Winged Lady’s silky voice.

Nebula peers from over her chair. Winged Lady is, to Nebula’s horror, trying to find Mantis, who is hiding beneath a table. She lands, azure boots on the table, her wings rustling gently behind her.

Mantis battle cries, pushing the table up with her shoulder, and Winged Lady goes toppling to the floor. Nebula flies out of her hiding place and throws her baton to electrocute the Winged Lady. Finally, she’s down.

Nebula’s about to deliver the killing blow when Mantis shrieks. “No, no, stop!”

Nebula hesitates for a split second and Winged Lady’s wings begin to flap once more but—

Mantis’s hand slaps down on Winged Lady’s face and Mantis says, “Goodnight!”

Winged Lady falls limp, asleep.

* * *

 

The first thing Thor when he wakes up sees is nothing.

It is as dark as Svartálfar here. Thor cannot see anything. But what he does notice is the primordial sound of the Big Lizard screeching once more, and its rider Not Yondu yelling croaky commands at it.

Instinctively, Thor reaches around for Stormbreaker. Where in Asgard is it?

“Rabbit! Quill!” bellows Thor. “Where is everybody? Why are monsters attacking us?”

“I am Groot,” reassures Groot.

“I’m here,” says Drax, “but so are the Slaughter Lords! Help us defeat them, team captain.”

“That’s true, I  _am_ team captain,” says Thor smugly.

“I am Groot!” demands Groot.

“I’m coming, good man!” shouts Thor back. “Just let me find my axe, just give me a second. Ah, here!”

He hears the sound of an enormous tail whipping through the air and gunfire raining down on all of them, and Drax battle crying in the distance, probably punching the heck out of the enemies.

“I am Groot,” snaps Groot as Thor’s hand lands on something.

“Ooh, hello, Tree, didn’t see you there. OK, clearly … not … Stormbreaker … ah, here!” He picks it up and yes, definitely Stormbreaker this time. He feels the crackle of lightning course through his body and the axe and rushes towards the noise.

“Is it  _dark_ in here,” mutters Thor and almost misses the Big Lizard because of how pitch-black his surroundings are. Once he reaches it though, he grabs onto the tail and feels the clean  _swish_ of his axe cutting through the beast’s body.

Groot and Drax both yell approval, but suddenly there’s someone on Thor’s back, firing blasts at his neck.

Thor roars in pain and shakes Not Yondu off. He hears the unsettling twist and twirls of tree branches growing and cracking and Not Yondu yells out. Thor hears and  _feels_ Drax’s thunderous footsteps on the floor and the numerous punches to Not Yondu, knocking him out for good.

“Did we get them all?” yells Thor.

“Yes!” says Drax.

“I am Groot,” confirms Groot.

“Great,” says Thor, yawning. “Where are the rest of our friends?”

“I am Groot,” says Groot, probably shrugging.

“Let us find them,” says Drax excitedly.

“Good idea,” says Thor. “Let’s try and find an exit in this dark place, and we’ll get out.”

“I am Groot?”

“Yes, it’s quite dark in here,” says Thor. “Do you not notice it?”

Thor can hear shuffling as Drax and Groot fall into step with Thor.

“Maybe it’s a metaphor,” says Drax to Groot. “I have recently learnt what metaphors are.”

“Well, yes, that’s very smart of you,” says Thor jokingly. When he gets no response, he says, “Oh, Destroyer, come  _on_. Throw me a bone. Laugh a little. I made a joke.”

Drax coughs. “I apologise. I did not register it as a joke.”

“Well, in any case,” says Thor, “we really need to get outside, somewhere with lights, and find the rest of the crew.”

“I am Groot,” says Groot warningly.

“What do you mean ‘it’s not dark’, Tree?” scoffs Thor. “It is clearly dark.”

“That wasn’t a joke, right?” whispers Drax loudly to Groot.

“I am Groot,” he whispers back.

“I can hear you,” snaps Thor, bristling. “What on Asgard do you people mean?”

“Thor,” says Drax, for the first time in a voice that is not lofty nor amused. “Look our way.”

Thor scoffs. “Look at you people, saying ‘Look our way,’ as if you’re team captain. Well, you’re  _not_.  _I_ am team captain.”

“I am Groot,” says Groot softly.

“Fine,” Thor snaps, turning around to look at his companions. “Cherish and take in this beautiful mortal form, for my godly form is something no mere mortal can just see without dying a terrible, terrible dea—”

“I am Groot,” says Groot simply.

Thor coughs. “W-What? What do you mean?” he asks, though he had heard perfectly.

“He said,” Drax clarifies uselessly, “that he thinks you’ve gone blind.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my fic about what I think (or at least want) GOTG vol. 3 to be! I hope you enjoy. The fic name is from my favourite John Mayer song, which despite it not being a retro 70s-80s song, I think it would fit well on a GOTG soundtrack. It's also a pretty apt name for what this fic is about. :)
> 
> Every chapter will be named after a certain 70s-80s-90s song :) Think of it like Awesome Mix Vol. 3. You can listen to it while reading. This chapter is named after A Beautiful Morning by the Rascals.


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